Operating Systems (LAB 4)

This lab will introduce the basic concept of Text Processing Tools and Basic System Configuration
Tools in Linux to you.

Activity Outcomes:
This lab teaches you the following topics:
1. An introduction to some of the most useful text-processing utilities
2. Using Linux's graphical and text-based configuration tools to manage networking, printing and
date/time settings

Viewing File Contents With less

The less command is a program to view text files. Throughout our Linux system, there
are many files that contain human-readable text. The less program provides a convenient way to
examine them.
Why would we want to examine text files?
Because many of the files that contain system settings (called configuration files) are stored in this
format and being able to read them gives us insight about how the system works. In addition, many of
the actual programs that the system uses (called scripts) are stored in this format.

The less command is used like this:

$less <filename>
Once started, the less program allows you to scroll forward and backward through a
text file. For example, to examine the file that defines all the system's user accounts, enter
the following command:
$less /etc/passwd
Once the less program starts, we can view the contents of the file. If the file is longer
than one page, we can scroll up and down. To exit less, press the “q” key.
The table below lists the most common keyboard commands used by less.

wc – Print Line, Word, and Byte Counts

The wc (word count) command is used to display the number of lines, words, and bytes
contained in files. For example:
$wc Myfile.txt
In this case it prints out three numbers: lines, words, and bytes contained in
Myfile.txt.

Pipelines
The ability of commands to read data from standard input and send to standard output is
utilized by a shell feature called pipelines. Using the pipe operator “|” (vertical bar), the
standard output of one command can be piped into the standard input of another:
For example, we can use less to display, page-by-page, the output of any command that sends
its results to standard output:
$ls -l /usr/bin | less

Filters
Pipelines are often used to perform complex operations on data. It is possible to put several
commands together into a pipeline. Frequently, the commands used this way are referred to as
filters. Filters take input, change it somehow and then output it. The first one we will try is
sort.

Sort
Imagine we wanted to make a combined list of all of the executable programs in /bin and
/usr/bin, put them in sorted order and view it:
$ls /bin /usr/bin | sort | less
Since we specified two directories (/bin and /usr/bin), the output of ls would have
consisted of two sorted lists, one for each directory. By including sort in our pipeline,
we changed the data to produce a single, sorted list.

grep – Print Lines Matching A Pattern

grep is a powerful program used to find text patterns within files. It's used like this:
grep pattern [file...]
When grep encounters a “pattern” in the file, it prints out the lines containing it. The
patterns that grep can match can be very complex, but for now we will concentrate on
simple text matches.
For example, find all the files in our list of programs that had the word “zip”
embedded in the name:
$ ls /bin /usr/bin | sort | grep zip
There are a couple of handy options for grep: “-i” which causes grep to ignore case
when performing the search (normally searches are case sensitive) and “-v” which
tells grep to only print lines that do not match the pattern.

head / tail – Print First / Last Part of Files

Sometimes you don't want all the output from a command. You may only want the
first few lines or the last few lines. The head command prints the first ten lines of a
file and the tail command prints the last ten lines. By default, both commands print
ten lines of text, but this can be adjusted with the “-n” option:
$head -n 5 Myfile.txt
 $tail -n 5 Myfile.txt

These can be used in pipelines as well:

$ ls /usr/bin | tail -n 5

Networking
There are number of commands that can be used to configure and control networking
including commands used to monitor networks and those used to transfer files. In this lab, we
will also see the above-mentioned commands. In addition, we are going to explore the ssh
program that is used to perform remote logins.

Examining and Monitoring A Network

The ping command sends a special network packet called an ICMP
ECHO_REQUEST to a specified host. Most network devices receiving this packet
will reply to it, allowing the network connection to be verified.
For example,
$ping localhost
After it is interrupted by pressing Ctrl-c, ping prints performance statistics. A properly
performing network will exhibit zero percent packet loss. A successful “ping” will
indicate that the elements of the network (its interface cards, cabling, routing, and
gateways) are in generally good working order.

Set Date and Time

Display Current Date and Time

Just type the date command:

$ date

Sample outputs:

Mon Jan 21 01:31:40 IST 2019

Display the Hardware Clock (RTC)

Type the following hwclock command to read the Hardware Clock and display the time on
screen:
# hwclock -r
OR
# hwclock --show
$ sudo hwclock --show --verbose

OR show it in Coordinated Universal time (UTC):

# hwclock --show --utc

Sample outputs:

2019-01-21 01:30:50.608410+05:30

Set Date Command Example

Use the following syntax to set new data and time:
date –-set "STRING"
For example, set new data to 2 Oct 2006 18:00:00, type the following command as root user:
# date -s "2 OCT 2006 18:00:00"
OR
# date –-set "2 OCT 2006 18:00:00"
You can also simplify format using following syntax:
# date +%Y%m%d -s "20081128"

Set Time Examples

To set time use the following syntax:
# date +%T -s "10:13:13"
Where,

• 10: Hour (hh)

• 13: Minute (mm)
• 13: Second (ss)

Use %p locale’s equivalent of either AM or PM, enter:

# date +%T%p -s "6:10:30AM"
# date +%T%p -s "12:10:30PM"

How do I set the Hardware Clock to the current System

Time?
Use the following syntax:
# hwclock --systohc
OR
# hwclock -w

timedatectl: Display the current date and time

Type the following command:
$ timedatectl
How do I change the current date using the timedatectl
command?
To change the current date, type the following command as root user:
# timedatectl set-time YYYY-MM-DD
OR
$ sudo timedatectl set-time YYYY-MM-DD
For example set the current date to 2015-12-01 (1st, Dec, 2015):
# timedatectl set-time '2015-12-01'
# timedatectl
Sample outputs:

Local time: Tue 2015-12-01 00:00:03 EST

Universal time: Tue 2015-12-01 05:00:03 UTC
RTC time: Tue 2015-12-01 05:00:03
Time zone: America/New_York (EST, -0500)
NTP enabled: no
NTP synchronized: no
RTC in local TZ: no
DST active: no
Last DST change: DST ended at
Sun 2015-11-01 01:59:59 EDT
Sun 2015-11-01 01:00:00 EST
Next DST change: DST begins (the clock jumps one hour forward) at
Sun 2016-03-13 01:59:59 EST
Sun 2016-03-13 03:00:00 EDT

To change both the date and time, use the following syntax:
# timedatectl set-time YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
Where,

1. HH : An hour.
2. MM : A minute.
3. SS : A second, all typed in two-digit form.
4. YYYY: A four-digit year.
5. MM : A two-digit month.
6. DD: A two-digit day of the month.

For example, set the date ’23rd Nov 2015′ and time to ‘8:10:40 am’, enter:
# timedatectl set-time '2015-11-23 08:10:40'
# date

How do I set the current time only?

The syntax is:
# timedatectl set-time HH:MM:SS
# timedatectl set-time '10:42:43'
# date
Sample outputs:

Mon Nov 23 08:10:41 EST 2015

How do I set the time zone using timedatectl command?
To see list all available time zones, enter:
$ timedatectl list-timezones
$ timedatectl list-timezones | more
$ timedatectl list-timezones | grep -i asia
$ timedatectl list-timezones | grep America/New
To set the time zone to ‘Asia/Kolkata’, enter:
# timedatectl set-timezone 'Asia/Kolkata'
Verify it:
# timedatectl

Local time: Mon 2015-11-23 08:17:04 IST

Universal time: Mon 2015-11-23 02:47:04 UTC
RTC time: Mon 2015-11-23 13:16:09
Time zone: Asia/Kolkata (IST, +0530)
NTP enabled: no
NTP synchronized: no
RTC in local TZ: no
DST active: n/a

Lab Activities

Activity 1:
This activity is related to file permission. Perform the following tasks

0. Create a file “testfile.txt” in /test directory

1. View and read the file using Less command
2. Use wc command to print lines, words and bytes
3. Find any text pattern in the file using grep
4. Print the first 3 lines of the file using head
5. Print the last 3 lines of the file using tail

Solution:
0. Touch /test/testfile.txt
1. Less testfile.txt
2. wc testfile.txt
3. grep testfile.txt
4. head -n 3 testfile.txt
5. tail -n 3 testfile.txt

Activity 2:
Perform the following tasks
1. Find all the files with extension txt in the /test directory
2. Find the first line of the list of files in the /test directory
3. Find the last line of the list of files in the /test directory
4. Produce and view a single sorted list of files by combining two directories: /Desktop and /bin
Solution

1. ls /test | grep zip

2. ls /test | head -n 1
3. ls /test | tail -n 1
4. ls /test /Desktop | sort | less

Activity 3:
Perform the following tasks

1. Examine the network using Ping command and view the performance statistics

Solution
1. ping localhost